Life's Crossroads
by GreenOnBlack
Summary: Had Hikaru never met Sai, life would have been different.


**Life's Crossroads**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go and I did not profit in any way by writing this story._

_Warnings: Spoilers to the anime/manga, and this is an AU. ONE-SHOT_

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Hikaru had always been an active child since birth. When he was three, his mother had walked him to the park daily, letting him loose, permitting him play in the sandbox with all the other children. Occasionally, because there was always a big line-up for it, he would have her push him on the swings; letting him feel the sensation of soaring through the sky, giving him a sense of freedom. 

A touch to the vivid, blue heaven.

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When he was five, his parents enrolled him to a junior soccer team for kids. It was there that he met his best friend, Akari…not that he knew at that time she would become so close. She had girl cooties and he refused to let her even brush against his arm…not that she ever would have, because he apparently had cooties too, only that they were _boy_ cooties. Everyday, after all the running through the fields and kicking the soccer ball, their mothers would come and pick them up. They said their daily good byes by sticking their tongues out at one other.

Sometimes, when their mothers talked to each other, Hikaru and Akari would hide behind their respective parents, clutching their clothing in their tiny, tight fists and look shying at each other.

* * *

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When he was seven, his parents divorced. He didn't understand what was going on, only that he wouldn't see his father anymore. His eyes always teared and his nose would run. But he was a boy, and boys don't cry. So he would always blame it on the wind and the sand going into his eyes. Akari went to the same school as he did, and on one such occasion when the sand got into his eyes, _again_, she walked up to him and wordlessly handed him a flower.

He looked at it, and saw beauty.

He glanced back at her and saw friendship in her big, soft eyes. He accepted the gift with a slightly dirtied hand. From that moment on, he _knew_ for a fact that she would never abandon him. She had become his closest friend, and he, hers.

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When he was nine, he first witnessed his grandfather playing on that checkered and lined wooden board of his. Oh, Hikaru has seen it many times, since he would always visit, but he never knew the purpose of it. Every now and then, Hikaru would bring Akari over and they would use it as a table to play with cars and her _atrocious_ dolls (she always insisted on bringing them wherever she went), since it was the perfect size for little children like them. It was on one such afternoon that when Hikaru went over to visit, he saw his grandpa and a friend moving tiny round black and white pebbles on the board. Apparently, gramps and his companion just finished the game, as they both stood up and stretched. Curious, Hikaru walked up to the board, peered down in confusion, and tugged his grandfather's pant legs to ask what they were doing. Delighted that his grandchild was _finally_ taking an interest in the wonderful game that was Go, he excitedly explained, no doubt dreaming of having Hikaru playing it too. Listening to his gramps talk about the concept of those pebbles bored him; he never did posses patience. Hikaru 'psh-ed' and walked over to the TV, turned it to a cartoon channel and sat on the couch to watch.

Later that night, he dreamt of black and white stones placed on a wooden board, making that wonderfully intriguing sound of '_pa-chi_;' the background made of glowing stars and galaxies…the universe.

When he woke up, he remembered nothing of the dream, and that was that.

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When he was eleven, he discovered the magnificent world of manga. Collecting them and dragging Akari along with him became his hobby. Soon, his money ran out, and even though he searched behind chairs and underneath his couches, through his sock drawer and inside his school bags, he would never find enough money for his growing desire for more manga. Thinking of selling something of his, he finally came up with the idea of hunting through his grandfather's attic (it was always so cluttered, there's _bound_ to be an item there to sell) for something to earn money from.

Dragging his best friend, once again, to the house, they climbed up the ladder and into the dark, dusty room. While they were both looking, Hikaru saw an expensive looking goban sitting at a far corner. Clambering through the mess, he walked towards it. Just as he was nearing it, his elbow hit a teetering ancient-looking chair, with only three of the once-four legs, sending it clattering to the ground. Wincing at the sound, they heard his grandfather yelling at them to go back down before he came up there to yell at them some more.

Sighing, they both went back to the ladder to climb down, Akari mumbling under her breath that it was all his fault, and Hikaru casting a last look at that goban, feeling a longing and pulling sensation towards it. He ignored the attraction towards the dust-covered goban and followed.

Strange.

In the end, his grandfather relented and gave Hikaru some more spending money after extracting a promise from him stating that he would concentrate and do well in school.

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When he was twelve, he attended Haze Junior High with Akari. There, he joined the boys' soccer team, and because of his constant practice ever since he was five, he became one of the star players. Akari joined the culture club, though he never did exactly understand what they did there. Sometimes, walking down the halls, he would see poster of various clubs inviting students to join. He once saw a poster for the Go club, but that didn't interest him much. He thought that there was too much thinking involved in it.

Later on, he never did see another poster for the Go club again. Hikaru heard that it got disbanded.

He idly wondered what happened to that sempai with the big round glasses…Tsutsui.

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When he was thirteen, he shared homeroom with Akari. They were still best friends at that time, even though many teased them for being so close. Hikaru and Akari soon developed the ability to ignore all those rumours. There was one kid that sat in the back that always intrigued him. He had bleached orange hair and constantly seemed to be sleepy; he slept, slumped behind his textbook all the time. He never questioned their friendship. Hikaru soon learnt that his name was Mitani.

One day, he didn't know why, but Mitani looked hurt, but also pissed at the same time. That same day, Mitani didn't buy lunch claiming he didn't have money that day. Which was weird, since he always seemed to have a wallet full of bills. Hikaru shared his lunch with the orange-haired boy that day.

They became friends soon after.

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When he was fourteen, from time to time, he would walk down the streets to a nearby ramen stand to meet up with some soccer friends. On one such occasion, on the way there, he witnessed a short bowl-haired boy with round glasses sauntering down the sidewalk away from a steaming redhead and a dejected-looking older boy. Strolling pass the pair, he overheard the angry red-haired boy hissing, "That Ochi! Thinking he's better than us just because he passed the pro exam without losing one game. Don't think about him, Isumi. He's just trying to put you down. We both passed it too. Come on, let's go have some sushi. I'll pay."

Hikaru was slightly curious. Pro exam? Game? What were they talking about?

It wasn't his business. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought out of his mind and walked on.

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When he was fifteen, his grandfather went over to his house for dinner one night, bringing a friend with him. Throughout dinner, they both talked about a 'Touya-Meijin' and how he protected his title again for another year. Hikaru realized they were discussing about Go again.

How boring.

Finishing his bowl of rice, he stood from the table and went up to his room to play video games.

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When he was sixteen, during the summer he sat on a bench to eat his ice cream with Mitani. Hikaru observed a group of people with pens, notebooks, and voice-recorders (reporters, Hikaru later figured out) following behind a black shoulder-length haired boy around their age dressed smartly in a suit and tie. Some reporters walked beside the boy asking him questions like, "Why did you decide to open up 5-4?" and "During chuban, what were you thinking when the opponent trapped you?"

The boy, when passing the pair on the bench, spared a glance at them, his eyes caught and held Hikaru's vivid green ones. Licking his ice cream, Hikaru suppressed a shiver that ran down his body. He felt like something large in his life had occurred, but he knew nothing really did.

He did not know that the politely dressed boy that walked by him earlier had to suppress a shiver too at that moment.

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Hikaru found out later that the boy's name was Touya Akira, when he happened to come across a Go article in the entertainment section.

His neck hair stood on an end, but he contributed that to the fact that the air conditioning was too cold. He put down the newspaper and turned it lower.

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When he was eighteen, Hikaru was recruited to a professional soccer team. By that time, he bleached his entire head blonde, not just his bangs, when his teammates said that just doing the bangs was too childish. He soon afterwards became one of the most well-known sport icons in Japan.

Akari went into the sciences and became a veterinarian.

Mitani got a degree in business and later on, became a financial accountant to one of the major law firms in the country.

Sometimes, all three of them would clear up a day so that they would be able to meet up with each other and catch up. Hikaru and Akari learnt how to play Go from Mitani for recreational purposes. Somehow, Hikaru, after a short period of time, grew stronger than Mitani at the game, and they would tease him about how his future should have been Go and not soccer.

Hikaru would just laugh and shake his head in mirth.

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That goban, from many years ago, the one that he saw in his grandfather's attic was auctioned off to a museum. It turned out it was an authentic Shusaku goban.

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If only Hikaru had gone up to the goban in his grandfather's attic, his life would have taken a different path. But he didn't.

And that was all that mattered.

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_While doing homework today, I suddenly had the urge to write a Hikaru no Go story. This is what I think might have happened had Hikaru not met Sai. He would not have gone down the path of Go and never would have affected all those people in the Go world. I hope this is realistic._

_I'm not quite sure about the time line so, if there were any mistakes, please tell me. I had double-checked and triple-checked it for spelling errors, so hopefully, there's none._

_So there you have it. Please R and R and tell me what you think!_

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